Edward Burtynsky photographs the landscape of oil

譯者: Dennis Lin 審譯者: Yung Hsiang Tseng

I started my journey 30 years ago.

三十年前,我展開了我的旅程

And I worked in mines. And I realized that

在礦場中,我發現到

this was a world unseen.

那是個我們平時所看不到的世界

And I wanted, through color and large format cameras

因此我想要用色彩,超廣角相機

and very large prints,

和超大的照片

to make a body of work that somehow

做為一個主體

became symbols of our

它象徵了

use of the landscape,

這些人造景觀的使用

how we use the land.

讓我們知道,我們土地是如何被利用的

And to me this was

對我來說,

a key component that somehow, through this medium of photography,

這是一個非常關鍵的部分,透過這種方式

which allows us to contemplate these landscapes,

我們能夠對這些景物有所思考

that I thought photography was perfectly suited

而我認為,攝影的確是個很棒的媒介

to doing this type of work.

它能讓我們投入思考

And after 17 years of photographing large industrial landscapes,

在拍攝這些大型工業景觀之後

it occurred to me that

我發現

oil is underpinning the scale and speed.

石化工業支撐起了"規模"和"速度"這兩樣東西

Because that is what has changed,

長久以來一直在改變的

is the speed at which we're taking all our resources.

就是我們掠取自然資源的速度

And so then I went out to develop a whole series

所以,我決定拍攝一系列

on the landscape of oil.

石化工業設施的照片

And what I want to do is to kind of map an arc

我想表達的有以下幾點

that there is extraction, where we're taking it from the ground,

第一個部分為人類在何處開採

refinement. And that's one chapter.

和提煉這些石油.

The other chapter that I wanted to look at was

另一個部份我想要看的是

how we use it -- our cities,

石油如何被利用. 在城市中,

our cars, our motorcultures,

在汽車上

where people gather around the vehicle

和大家開車聚在一起的汽車文化中

as a celebration.

這也成了一種聚會的方式

And then the third one is this idea of the end of oil,

第三個部分則是石油的終點

this entropic end,

走到了終點時

where all of our parts of cars, our tires,

所有的車子,輪胎

oil filters,

石油過濾器

helicopters, planes --

直升機,飛機等等...

where are the landscapes where all of that stuff ends up?

最後都去哪了呢?

And to me, again, photography was

對我來說

a way in which I could explore and research the world,

攝影就是我探索和發現這個世界的方式

and find those places.

並且讓我能找到這些地方

And another idea that I had as well,

我還有另一個想法

that was brought forward by an ecologist --

這歸因於一位生態學家的啟發

he basically did a calculation where

他做了一個計算

he took one liter of gas and said,

他拿了一公升的汽油,說

well, how much carbon it would take, and how much organic material?

為了一公升的汽油,要消耗多少炭和有機物質呢?

It was 23 metric tons for one liter.

要23公噸

So whenever I fill up my gas,

所以當我每次加油時

I think of that liter, and how much carbon.

我便會想起這個實驗

And I know that oil comes from the ocean and phytoplankton,

我知道石油是藉由海洋和浮游生物生成的

but he did the calculations for our Earth

他還計算了

and what it had to do to produce that amount of energy.

要如何製造出這麼多的石油

From the photosynthetic growth,

從光合作用開始

it would take 500 years of that growth

大概需要500年的時間

to produce what we use, the 30 billion barrels we use per year.

來製造我們每年使用的300億桶汽油

And that also brought me to the fact that

這也讓我想到說

this poses such a risk to our society.

這對整個社會來說其實是一種風險

Looking at 30 billion per year,

每年300億桶汽油

we look at our two largest suppliers,

由兩個最大的供應國提供

Saudi Arabia and now Canada, with its dirty oil.

沙烏地阿拉伯,和加拿大 但他的油品質不太好

And together they only form about 15 years of supply.

他們也許還能提供15年的原油

The whole world, at 1.2 trillion estimated reserves,

而全世界還有1.2兆桶的存量

only gives us about 45 years.

大概還能撐個45年

So, it's not a question of if, but a question of when

所以,現在的問題不是石油會不會用完,而是何時會用完

peak oil will come upon us.

我們將達到石油頂峰

So, to me, using photography --

所以,我透過攝影

and I feel that all of us need to now begin to really

而我認為所有人都應該開始

take the task of using our talents,

運用自己的才能

our ways of thinking,

以及思維

to begin to deal with what I think is probably

來解決上述可能出現的問題

one of the most challenging issues of our time,

也是當代最具挑戰性的問題

how to deal with our energy crisis.

那就是能源危機

And I would like to say that, on the other side of it,

在另一方面

30, 40 years from now, the children that I have,

在三、四十年之後

I can look at them and say, "We did everything

我能看著我的孩子並向他們說

we possibly, humanly could do,

我們已經盡了全力

to begin to mitigate this,

來緩和能源危機

what I feel is one of the most important and critical

我認為,這是當代最重要,最關鍵的時刻了

moments in our time. Thank you.

謝謝

(Applause)

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